PLANTS &
PROCESSES
Accredo. According to McCarthy, Accredo never waits until
the whole plant is at 100 percent capacity. “As soon as one
machine is running 24/5, we buy another,” he says. This is
possible due to what McCarthy called a “plug and play ”
design. “ When they put the presses and extruders in the
building, they also built the foundation heads for the presses
and extruders that would follow.”
RUNNING THE GAMUT
Perhaps one of the most unique and cutting-edge aspects
of Accredo is its decision to exclusively run expanded color
gamut process printing. Varn asserts that its packaging does
not use any line or spot colors; it builds 100 percent of its im-
ages from standard CMYK colors, plus other custom-made
process colors.
“ We believe this is a more sustainable way of printing,”
says Varn. “Because the ink colors don’t change, we can print
different designs at the same time, including different SKU’s .
This, coupled with our proprietary ink delivery system, in-
creases productivity by 40 percent. We use 35 percent less ink
to achieve the desired image. It also reduces our ink waste by
about 95 percent. Any time you reduce waste and increase
productivity you are being more sustainable.”
Varn goes on to say, “The reduced waste with expanded
gamut is far superior to what you get with CMYK and line col-
ors. It provides a lot of flexibility and a broader range of col-
ors. We are no longer limited to the number of printing decks;
we are limited only by the imagination of our customers.”
The specific color set evolved through a series of intense
trial and error, according to Varn. “ We fingerprinted on every
substrate that we run in the plant and worked with a number
of different separators,” he says.
While the general belief is that expanded gamut is less
accurate than using spot colors, Varn sharply disagrees.
He sees expanded gamut printing as more scientific than
traditional ink mixing and running spots. To make it happen,
he insists, the company goes out of its way to hire employees
who are open minded. “It’s better to have someone with mini-
mal experience than someone who has been doing the same
thing forever and ever and won’t change,” he says.
The proof, it turns out, is in the pudding. Varn declares,
“Our customers are very pleased, because we are much
more consistent, and we have the delta E numbers to back
that up.” n
Accredo taps into some of the most state-of-the-art equipment in today’s flexible packaging industry.
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FLEXO
JANUARY
2011 www.flexography.org